Greynets

Internet communications have evolved from point-to-point channels such as email to real-time, presence-oriented communications like IM, P2P file sharing, Skype, and web conferencing. FaceTime terms these real-time communications applications 'greynets' - defined as network-enabled applications that are often downloaded and installed by the end user without the permission or knowledge of the IT department and use highly evasive techniques to circumvent the existing security infrastructure.

Greynets in the Enterprise: Third Annual Survey of Greynet Trends, Attitudes and Impact

For the third consecutive year, FaceTime commissioned NewDiligence, an independent market research company, to conduct its annual survey on the growth and impact of greynets. As in prior years, the research was conducted among a large sample of corporate IT managers and end users across all size organizations in North America, UK and Europe. The research study includes compiled data from 737 IT managers and end users. Key findings can be found below.

Request the complete results of the 2007 Greynet Research Study.

IT Attitudes

• Eight in ten IT managers are at locations that have experienced a greynet-related attack within the last six months (82%); the same rate as the prior year
• Greynet usage is widespread: virtually all IT managers report at least one greynet application in use (99%).
• IM usage makes IT nervous: 40% of IT managers report that public IM usage at work poses "serious risk"; another 46% indicate that IM poses "some risk" - for a total of 86% of managers who are wary of the public networks and their impact on the work environment.
• On average, IT managers experience 59 incidents a month that require some kind of repair or remediation to enduser PCs. Each such repair requires, on average, 9.9 hours of work.

Employee Attitudes

• 85% of employees report that they use their work PCs for "personal, non-work purposes," and among these employees, 38% send personal IMs or engage in chat while at work.
• The personal use of work computers is independent of company size. Across the board, approximately eight in 10 will surf, shop and chat over the company network, testimony to the continued blurring of personal and professional workspaces.
• Fewer than half - 45% of employees - are at work locations where personal IM messaging is monitored by the organization.
• The number of work locations with eight or more greynet applications in use has almost tripled in the last three years

Greynet Concerns in Unified Communications Deployments

• 44% of IT managers are at companies that have or are actively planning to roll-out Unified Communications platforms
• Larger companies, measured by employee size, are twice as likely to roll out UC compared to small companies
• Security is the top concern for IT managers who are rolling out UC, reported by 86% of managers. Security trumps ROI (65%) by a relatively wide margin.
• 45% of IT managers are at work locations where Enterprise IM or Unified Communications are deployed. Even at these locations, 74% report that public IM networks are also used by employees.

Growing Compliance Concerns

• 68% of IT managers are at work locations where there are specific guidelines and polices that govern the archiving and storage of IM, email and chat communications.
• 53% of IT managers have received guidance from their corporate counsel concerning the archiving and storage of emails, IMs, chats and other employee communications.
• 45% of organizations would be unable to produce an archive or record of a specific employee’s IM communications, if required to do so for legal purposes.
• 32% of the companies that have deployed enterprise IM also report they are incapable of producing logs of employee IM communications.

Source: FaceTime Greynets Research Study, November 2007

Read the results of the 2006 Greynet Research Study

Read the results of the 2005 Greynet Research Study